Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Ordeals of High Magick in Tallahassee

So what were those three ordeals that I was able to perform while living in Tallahassee? My home at that time was the perfect place to perform elaborate rituals that required multiple days to complete. I had no nosey or loud neighbors to contend with, and once I was sequestered in my apartment with the phone unplugged, I was free to perform rituals for hours, and I did. Every year, starting in late October and running through early March I would perform a major ordeal. The first ordeal was performed in the winter of 1990 - 1991 (First Enochian Ordeal), the second ordeal was broken into two parts: the winter of 1991 - 1992 (Heptarchia Mystica) was part one, and the second part was performed during the winter of 1992 - 1993 (Greater Enochian Ordeal). In the winter of 1993 - 1994, I performed the third and final ordeal, which was the Ordeal of Spiritual Archeomancy.

First Enochian Ordeal

Here are some quoted text taken from the Book of the Nephilim, part 1, which defines the specific nature of the first Enochian ordeal. This is an unpublished book from the Order’s lore that is still undergoing editing and refining. I thought that this text would explain the nature of the ordeal in greater detail than what I am able to relate off of the top of my head.

“The First Enochian Ordeal is divided into seven distinct tasks. The first four concern themselves with the Invocation of the Four Archangels [Michael, Gabriel, Raphael and Uriel]. Each Archangel has been mythically given a role in the act of sealing the Enochian Mysteries from the profane. They therefore act as Guardians as well as Guides to the information being sought. The justification for applying to the Archangels for this knowledge, besides the fact that one knows enough to ask, is the proof of the Deity's favor as established by the successful manifestation of the spirit through the ritualized activation of the Eneagrammic Gate. This sacred domain of the spirits serves as the key for allowing the whole process to proceed, without it, the petition for the wisdom of Enoch would fail.

[The Eneagrammic Gate is a ritual construct consisting of three different personal aspects of the Deity, three animated statues orientated to three different gate structures. The combination of the three gateways and godheads produces a potent personal spiritual domain through which the first ordeal is performed.]

Each Archangel that is invoked is asked to reveal the special knowledge through which the Nephilim may be directly contacted. There are four principle knowledge base tools through which this contact may be established, and these are:

Opening and Closing the Threshold Gate to the Inner Planes;

Revelation of the Mysteries of Shemiezez, his magick current of Ceremonial Archeomancy and his special cult;

Transformation pattern [initiations] of the Chenoch and the preparation that is done before the threshold of the Inner Planes;

Revelation of the Mysteries of Azazel, his magickal current of the Magician Warrior and his special cult.

The Archangels will facilitate the revelation and organization of these four knowledge base tools prior to contacting the Nephilim. The Archangels will also act as advisors and wardens for the celebrant, and thereby protect one from all potential harm.

The Fifth Task represents the invocation of the Archangel of Spirit (Ratziel) and through its sovereignty summon the Primary Agency of the Enochian current, Naluage. Also, the magick Tablet of the Mystery of the Seven Rays is charged with the Talismanic Elemental of Mercury of Fire, thus establishing the connection with the Spirits of Light who are called to assist the future tasks of the working. While the traditional Enochian system has the fifth archangel listed as Annael or Aniel (Glory of God), I have chosen Ratziel (Mystery of God), since that entity is more involved in the actual myth of Enoch, and Aniel is just another way of spelling Haniel, the archangel of the planet Venus. The fifth task is broken up into two ritual workings, the one that will invoke the talismanic elemental and charge the Tablet of Mystery, and the other one is for the invocation of the archangel Ratziel.

The Sixth and Seventh tasks are the Invocation of Spirits of Shemiezez and Azazel. In these actions the celebrant will use the Gate of Revealing to establish a full Invocation of their Spiritual Intelligences. Subsequent skying sessions will reveal more of the material of the Enochian System of Magick, which will assist in its full re-immersion. Also, the ritual of the Enochian Mystery Vortex is used to establish the foundation of the Enochian system of magick that uses the Nephilim as its source.”

In my opinion, the Nephilim represent the “Briatic” source of the Enochian system, but the alignments that Dr. John Dee established in his skrying sessions were also not ignored. Particularly, the five Archangelic Intelligences who acted as the wardens and sponsors of this occult knowledge and are an important link, as well as the Primary Enochian Agent, Naluage. Also included are the Spirits of Light, and the Tablet of Planetary Intelligences, of which the Mercurial Daughter of Light known as Madimi is of special consideration. This represents the complete repertoire of the first Enochian ordeal.

Heptarchia Mystica - Part One of the Second Ordeal

The first part of the second Enochian ordeal was a system of magick that could invoke and evoke one of the 49 Bonarum, or Good Spirits. I had previously determined that these spirits were actually binary planetary intelligences. As simple spirits consisting of two planets active within their combined intelligence, they represented a polarized planetary force that seemed much more like a psychic artifact or mental complex than any other type of planetary spirit.

You can easily imagine the kind of quality one of the spirits would possess if it consisted of the planets of Venus and the Sun. If the Sun were the base and Venus the qualifier, then one particular quality would be evident, and if Venus were the base and the Sun was the qualifier, then another quality would be evident. For instance, from the Heptarchia Mystica Concourse of Forces, the following qualities are associated with the two binary planetary intelligences of the Sun and Venus.

Then there is this definition of the spirits of the Heptarchia Mystica, which I will quote here from the specific concourse of forces document in the Order’s library.

“The hierarchy of the Heptarchate consists of seven dignitaries under the leadership of one of the seven Principles. The stations of the dignitaries are represented by seven royal titles of the monarchical system of mediaeval Europe.

The first and highest is the King, followed by the Prince, the Duke, the Baron, the Count, the Earl and finally the Knight. The monarchical quality of the spirits of the Heptarchate was described partially by Dr. John Dee, and thus followed a natural progression upon which to build. Dee only described the first two positions of nobility within the Heptarchate, but it seemed reasonable to apply the rest as they are currently known.

[One of the assumptions of this system was that the planetary archetypes were also represented by the seven Sephiroth of the Tree of Life, from Yesod to Binah. If one were to unify this system, then the next higher sephirah would be selected, namely Chokmah.]

The Principles ruled the Kings who ruled the rest of the nobles within the planetary dominion. However, there was also a ruler who joined the seven Principles to a single will, and that ruler represented the sephirah of Chokmah. The prime ruler was called Carmara, and it ruled the seven Kings and Princes Heptarchical. The spirit called Hagonel ruled the Sons and Daughters of the Spirits of Light (Talismantic Elementals), and the 42 Ministers who govern the powers of the Green Ray of consciousness. Correspondingly, the other six Principles also have 42 minsters who govern their associated Rays. The ministers appear in the form of a talismanic tablet that is a matrix of letters seven across by six down; thereby enclosing the names of the associated six Heptarchical Spirits.

The combination of the seven stations of nobility under direction of the seven Principles constitutes the matrix of 49 binary planetary intelligences. These spirits are the intelligences of the Heptarchate and emanate from the 7-fold spiritual archetypes. These seven archetypes are resolved in an eighth, which represents their union. These seven also represent the mediation between Atziluth and Assiah through the world of Yetzirah; and the product of this mediation is the spiritual hierarchy of the Sons and Daughters of the Spirits of Light, (7 × 4).”

An ordeal that could be used to fully engage this system of magick would consist of invoking seven of these Bonarum spirits, with the base being represented by the seven different planets (the qualifiers could be any of the seven planets). Thus all seven of the Heptarchate spirits would be summoned and fully experienced, each performed every weekend, for seven continuous weeks. The eighth and final working would consist of invoking the eighth spirit, Carmara, and to configure the already invoked Heptarchate spirits into a septagramic gate structure. The combination of all eight spirits would simultaneously produce the vortex structure that would completely reveal the holistic Enochian system of magick. I performed this working in 1992, and it was so successful that I am still seeking to digest all of the material which I was able to reveal. I hope to have a completed system written up sometime in the not too distant future.

Greater Enochian Ordeal - Part Two of the Second Ordeal

Since I had identified that the Nephilim were the spirits who had supplied the bulk of the Enochian wisdom and whose heretical teachings consisted of an entire system of magick, it became imperative that I invoke all four of the chiefs of these spirits. Therefore, I performed a long series of rituals to specifically invoke these demigods and their associated demi-goddesses, the daughters of Lilith. Since there were 20 chiefs of the Nephilim, and also 20 daughters of Lilith, I found that this was no coincidence. Therefore, I proceeded to invoke another two of these chiefs of the Nephilim (Turiel and Ramatael), and then invoked the spirits of Enoch, Lilith and finally, Seth.

A final point of consideration concerns the lineage of the Enoch (or Chenoch) as an initiated body of adepts who have mastered the methodology of Inner Plane workings. The actual techniques that they used have been lost, so they exist only as fragments in the Western Mystery Tradition. It is the primary goal of this working to reestablish these techniques and to reorganize them into a complete system of modern theurgy.

From these entities I was given parts of a new system of magick. In fact, from the invocation of Lilith, I received a completely unique system of performing an invocation. Instead of building a custom invocation rite for each spirit, I instead was shown a way of performing an invocation through a matrix of symbolic correspondences. If I could find corresponding symbols and other occult qualifiers (including attributes of deities), then I could use those correspondences to perform a modular invocation rite.

This magickal technology was revealed to me from the invoked spirit of Lilith. From the spirits of the Nephilim, I was able to build up an Enochian Qabbalah and an integrated system that included specific godnames and archangels. It was a radical departure from the traditional Enochian system, and one that I am still working on today.

Ordeal of Spiritual Archeomancy

As if these two ordeals of Enochian magick weren’t enough to keep me occupied, I also received a completely new magickal technique from these workings. I called this technique “Spiritual Archeomancy,” and the advanced workings that this new methodology helped to explore literally blew me completely away when I later performed them. Not only was this an unprecedented magickal system, but it was also intelligible to others. I shared these workings with Trevor, and then later, with a few other members of the Order, and everyone who experienced them was profoundly impacted.

I had previously devised a system of Archeomancy that invoked through the matrix of the Qabbalah of the 40 Worlds, which is represented by the Tree of Life as projected through the Four Qabbalistic Worlds. The 40 cards of the Lesser Arcana of the Tarot (Naibs and Aces) could also be used to represent the matrix of spirits that could be invoked through this Inner Plane domain.

Through my workings I had discovered another new system of Archeomancy that was based on the Aethyrs and the geometry of the back side of the Tree of Life. In this methodology, the angles (vectors) of the triangular structures of the Tree of Life lattice (skeleton of the pathways without the ten Sephiroth) were directly attributable to the Aethyrs, and that there were 56 of these entities instead of just 30. This information had been imparted to me from the Nephilim, Lilith, Enoch and Seth through the various Enochian magickal invocation ordeals that I had previously performed. Since this methodology was not associated with any kind of traditional Enochian lore, it put me into a place of completely stepping outside of what Dr. Dee had written and presented in his diaries. I was, in a word, in completely undiscovered country.

Spiritual Archeomancy has its own special purpose, since it gives the operator complete access to the triangular dimensions found in the Tree of Life. If you count these triangles, there are a total of 18. However, two of the shapes (above or at the Abysmal gateway of Da’ath) are actually trapezoids, making this system asymmetrical and much more interesting. In an unpublished document that discussed the magickal system of Archeomancy, the functional parts of this new methodology were thoroughly discussed. I shall quote a few paragraphs here to more succinctly define this system of magick.

“The domains that are defined in Spiritual Archeomancy are based upon the triangular shapes that are found in the structure of the Tree of Life and are bounded by the twenty-two paths and ten Sephiroth. These triangular structures have not been named nor defined in the traditional Qabbalah. However, by the very nature of the discipline of the Qabbalah that states that all structures in the Tree of Life must be considered significant and in some manner, accounted for, we must seek to define them. The space surrounding the Tree of Life has been defined as the Three Negative Veils, and the reverse side of the paths and Sephiroth have been defined as the Qliphoth (shells). The triangular shapes between the paths and Sephiroth have not been defined, and I have discovered that they also have an important significance. According to traditional Qabbalists, there are two Qabbalahs, the revealed Qabbalistic lore that we possess in written and oral tradition, and there is an unwritten Qabbalah, which is called the Spiritual Qabbalah. I believe that the undocumented triangular shapes have something to do with this unknown and secret doctrine.

I propose that the key to the Spiritual Qabbalah is revealed in the definition and revelation of those domains consisting of triangular shapes found in the Tree of Life, and I have deemed to call these shapes the Qabbalistic Dimensions. There are eighteen Qabbalistic Dimensions in the Tree of Life, and two of these dimensions actually have a trapezoidal shape instead of a triangular shape. Thus compounding the mystery of these eighteen dimensions are two that defy the patterns of the other sixteen, and are therefore of even greater significance. Herein are great mysteries for the boldest and most imaginative of occultists into which to delve, discovering for themselves the key to the unwritten and apparently unknown Qabbalah.

The Qabbalistic Dimensions have as their qualifiers the paths and Sephiroth that reside on their boundaries. However, there is also another qualifier that consists of the vector or angle where two paths and a Sephirah are joined. If one counts all the angles that are found in the structure of the Tree of Life, then fifty-six will be counted and identified. These angular vectors of the paths represent a spiritual process active in the Tree of Life. I have chosen to associate these spiritual processes with those mysterious Aethyrs that John Dee had listed in his Enochian magickal diaries. However, John Dee identified only thirty of these Aethyrs. Yet if one counts the angles from the bottom right dimension, then proceeding to the left dimension, and then crossing up to the next dimension on the right, and he/she continues counting in this manner until all thirty Aethyrs are so placed, then the approximate boundary of the Greater Abyss will be revealed.

Those additional twenty-six Aethyrs could be said to exist above the Abyss, and so would not have been visible to John Dee, since he did not realize the Qabbalistic implications of the Aehtyrs nor their place in the Tree of Life. And perhaps Edward Kelly was himself too awestruck to attempt to pierce the veil. Other magicians have used the thirty Aethyrs in their magickal workings, most notably Aleister Crowley, and have assumed that they spanned the Tree of Life in some fashion, where the final and the highest Aethyr was associated with the Supernal Triad above the Abyss. Because they believed this was the truth, their experiences were shaped by that truth. However, until now, no one has adequately placed the Aethyrs in the scheme of the Tree of Life, where they should be an integral part. The Aethyrs have found their place as the determining quality in the definition of the Qabbalistic Dimensions.

The Qabbalistic Dimensions are defined by a combination of path, Sephirah and Aethyr; they collectively represent the facets of the teleological process of the Deity and the destiny of its associated individual sentient souls. To unlock the mystery of a dimension is to reveal a part of the Divine Plan, and also the individual’s association with the fulfillment of that plan, however great or small.”

Beginning in the year 1993, I tested this newly derived system of magick, and the results were spectacular. Trevor and I both performed the working, which took the entire weekend to complete. The final results were mind blowing. Prior to that long weekend, I had also invoked each of the three Aethyrs that were associated with the lowest dimension, which incorporated the Sephiroth of Malkuth, Yesod and Hod, and their associated pathways. The resultant egress into the 18th and lowest dimension had far ranging effects, and in fact, I was still processing that experience a year after it was performed. In performing this magick, I had approached the Tree of Life as a veritable map of the Inner Planes, and had entered what would seem to be completely new spiritual universe.

Two years later I had managed to enter into the 17th Qabbalistic dimension and experience even greater revelations and empowerment. After another year, I then joined both dimensions into a fused Qabbalistic structure that revealed still more lore and a greater degree of empowerment. In all, these three workings represented a methodology and ritual technique that had no previous representation in any magickal tradition that I was aware of. It was a new system based on some very cutting edge Qabbalistic and Enochian speculation.

I have not performed any further workings, but I am planning on picking this operation up again in the future, and I will seek to gain entrance into the two trapezoidal shaped dimension situated just below the Supernal Triad. I have all of the materials that I need to perform these new workings, all I need is the time and the commitment. Other projects have intervened, but I am hoping to continue with this technique of Spiritual Archeomancy in the next few years.

Once I had accomplished these three ordeals, it became obvious to me that I had gone far beyond what the functioning temple in Kansas City was able to either perform or even digest without my direct intervention. In 1991 the temple had split into two groups, with one group abrogating the work that I had set forth, and the remainder of the primary group continuing with the workings. This smaller group only managed to perform part of the first Enochian ordeal, and the rest of it was either beyond their abilities, resources or just wasn’t as relevant.

After a couple more years, the last functioning temple group had broken up, but my own work continued with renewed vigor and at an accelerated pace. I did share the Spiritual Archeomancy working a couple of years later with Frater Arjuna, but no one else in the Kansas City group was either interested or capable of engaging with this work. Knowing its importance, I have proceeded to refine and document this system of magick. Even so, the documentation is not yet complete, and there are piles of notes, diaries and other materials that await the time when I will draw them together into a completed series of books, which I have called the “Sepher ha-Nephilim.”

Anyway, I lived in Tallahassee for over four years, and then, as predicted by a few of the powerful spirits that I had conversed with, I was promoted and sent to Santa Fe, New Mexico by the company for whom I worked. The next important part of my life adventure had begun, and by the summer of 1994, I had relocated to that small strange town in the middle of the old west. But that is another tale which I will relate to you at another time. The time that I spent in Tallahassee was highly valuable, both from the standpoint of the occult, ritual magick and also my career. I had progressed to new levels in all these arenas. I had also avoided having to deal with the cold and snow of winter for a period of five years.

Even though I had traveled yearly for a while to Kansas City for the annual Heartland Pagan Festival, most of what I had worked to establish in that town was sadly diminished. So I looked forward to my new adventures in Santa Fe, even though that meant that I would have to endure the snow and ice of a mountainous western town, known for its enchanting vistas, unique architecture and Spanish Colonial and Pueblo Indian cultures.